JUNE 18, 2004                                        This page may take a few minutes to upload.

FINAL CLINIC DAY

     This morning began in the usual way, with early awakenings, 6:45 AM team meeting, 7 AM breakfast, and 7:45 departure for the clinic (church).  There were at least 100 people pressed up against the front (chained) gate when we pulled up, and all were looking up at us as we carried our bags of medicines and supplies into the building.

     By this point, the team was very efficient in the set-up operation:  Maria went out to the intake table and began signing in the first patients; Susan, Debbie, Renea, Carol, and Jim pulled everything back out of the medicine and supply bags and lined it all up in the correct places on the little tables and benches of the farmacia corner; Brenda and Becky unpacked the (Spanish) coloring books and kids’ stuff and lined up the remaining sunglasses; Arlen and Clay rearranged the exam room corner, turned on the portable fan, and adjusted the hanging privacy bed sheets; and Mackenzie and Jennifer hauled in all the photo equipment and lined up patients along the little line of stools along the side of the church.

     Our usual helpers were there: Linus, a 32-year-old local pastor who is helping with the set-up of the children’s feeding centers; Jessie and Edson, our great translators; Amber, a missionary in training from Minnesota, who is working here with the Watts for a couple months; and the pastor and a couple members of the church youth who helped us every day.

     Within minutes, we were rolling through the long list of patients, most of whom had the usual headache, bellyache, back pain, and parasite complaints.  One seven-year-old girl was found to have a very harsh heart murmur, suspected to be aortic stenosis, and plans are underway to try to find the means to do a proper evaluation….. and maybe even appropriate treatment.

     One man in his fifties arrived on crutches, a leg having been lost in a street accident years ago, and asking only for vitamins and worm medicine.  After our brief exam, he began crying; it was because he was so thankful for the little bit of medicine we were giving him.  Later, we thought about how his life was probably even more difficult than the rest of the poor around here.  He would not be able to work (it’s all very physical here), and, of course, there’s no such thing as getting a disability check in Peru.

     We saw a few geriatric patients today, one as old as 84 years, and we thought about how difficult that long life must have been.

     After going through 95 patients, the line outside did not seem any smaller.  We broke for lunch, and hurried back to the Watts’ compound.  Lunch was special today, featuring – as Clay referred to it – “jungle meat.”  There were two special dishes, one was venison (smaller than Florida deer) from the nearby jungle, and the other was agota, a huge rodent (not quite as big as a capibara) that eats the fruit that falls in the jungle.  The tastes were actually pretty good, especially with that special yellow pepper sauce that our cooks made.  Some preferred to think of the agota as a small pig.

     Then it was back to the clinic for the final afternoon.  Each moment seemed special, each beautiful child seemed even more friendly, and the smiles grew bigger and bigger.  One six-year-old girl knew how to wink, and she winked and smiled at everyone every time she could see that anyone was looking her way.

     A very difficult moment came when it became apparent that the large group still outside the gate would not be able to get into the clinic.  After waiting most of the day out in the hot sun, they would be sent away without an examination and without any medicines.  All of their eyes focused on Maria and Arlen and Jim as they moved slowly through this crowd in the late afternoon sun, looking at each of them and making an “eyeball assessment” to try to determine if any of them appeared particularly ill.  Getting the gate unlocked and moving back through it to finish the clinic work, leaving the rest of these poor folks outside, was an uncomfortable moment.

     By the time today’s patient # 194 was seen and the heat threatened to wilt the missioners, it was time to pack up.  The team members’ energy picked back up as they all realized that this was it….

     After uncountable hugs, smiles, and good-byes, all of the bags were loaded back onto the van roof racks.  There were more than a few tears as we loaded in and waved one last time.

     An after-dinner team meeting included everyone sharing thoughts and feelings about their particular “God-gotcha-moments” of the week.  This group hadn’t just bonded; it was firmly concreted together.  We’ll never look at each other, or at ourselves, or at Peru the same again.

     Just for fun, we left the compound at 7:30 PM for downtown Pucallpa.  Now, this town, although fairly large, is in the middle of the jungle, so there are not many American tourists that come here.  It’s fair to say that our group stuck out like a sore thumb.

     We ordered desserts at TropiTops, then walked up the street to a couple hole-in-the-wall shops.  We looked at the pet baby Anaconda in one, and the 12-foot Anaconda skins in the other.  We bought a couple blow-dart hunting guns, and some hand-decorated, pressed feather-on-paper cards.  We walked as a group across the central plaza area; hundreds of pairs of eyes wondered what we were doing here.

     Some of the group retired early tonight; it’s been a physically tiring week.  Mackenzie, Maria, Clay, and Arlen stayed out on the open back porch until 11:30, taking in this one last evening in Pucallpa.  With the jungle parakeets now quiet on the wall behind us, the pet squirrel nestled into his cage’s wood shavings, and the Watts’ two dogs (Lady and K-Bar) now stretched out quietly in the grass, the four of us could hear the Spanish rock music being played in the distance.  At about 11 PM, a rooster began crowing loudly, apparently confused about his nights and days.  A huge Amazon lightning bug – at least eight times the size of American lightning bugs – landed on the floor near us, and then moved slowly around on the small table where we sat, his bright yellow light pulsating in a steady rhythm.  We were reminded again of God’s beautiful plan for this earth and us.

     In the morning, we’ll pack up and leave for the Pucallpa Airport, with our flight to Lima scheduled for about noon.  We’ll have time in the afternoon for going to the Indian market in Lima.  The plan for Sunday morning includes a 4:30 AM departure from the hotel for the Lima Airport, our return to Miami, and then on to New Smyrna Beach…. hopefully by 7:30 or 8:00 PM.

     It’s time to go back to the States, but we’ll bring with us a piece of Peru and its people.

A happy baby being examined in the clinic.	Becky passing out stickers.
Carol coloring with children.	Clay eating a jungle fruit, the granadina.
The road to the clinic.	Our fabulous cooks, Jose, Jessica and Josefa.
A beautiful child.	Maria at the gate to the clinic.
The clinic.	Renae taking a blood pressure.